Music
by therisingharvestmoon
Summary: Darcy introduces Loki to the concept of music as a distraction, acting as one herself. Loki/Darcy. Oneshot. Fluff.


**Music**

Loki's presence felt as uncomfortable as it was dangerous, like trying to walk on an icy path without any grit. Darcy watched him with his downcast eyes and grim expression, and wondered what was going on in his head. It was like looking at that one metaphor, the one about forgetting your thirst once your oxygen is taken away – there were a lot of people who wanted him dead, and his own family knew he should be punished, but yet here he was because of Thor, safe from that, but clearly, not safe from his own mind.

Circling without getting in his line of sight, she was about attentive to Jane and Thor's collective speech as he looked. Guilt made the puffy semicircles under his eyes, and she knew the twitch of his mouth every now and then was the look she had when trying not to cry. She sat with her mug of cocoa to the side facing away from her.

He jumped as Thor's large hand grasped his shoulder and neck gently. "You are safe. Start there, brother."

He followed Jane outside, and Darcy watched as they preoccupied themselves with talking, looking at equipment. She wondered if leaving would be mean, so she simply shuffled on her behind, clearing her throat delicately and avoiding Loki's eyes. She took a loud, large sip of hot cocoa, swallowing. She turned her head slightly, giving his general direction a smile, and tapped her red, manicured nails against the kitten mug. Eventually, he turned toward her, his gaze flat and pale as the cold, grey bench tops.

"Uh... Um," Darcy's smile faltered. She bit her full lower lips, her front teeth grazing over the tiny facial hairs below her mouth. "You want a cup?" She blushed instantly at her ineloquent blurting, but the venom in his glare quickly told her this was a better option than opening up a deep and meaningful with him.

"If you want to do me any courtesy, mortal, then do not speak." His voice was a hoarse, harsh whisper and she felt foolish when tears nearly prickled in her eyes. Any clever retort melted away.

"Oh, uh, okay, sorry. I..." She almost stood to leave, then remembered she was there for work. Sighing heavily and trying not to cry, Darcy gulped the rest of her hot drink down, ignoring the slight sting, and dragged her laptop toward her, opening up her most recent assignment for Jane (as a sociology major, the most the knew about carbon was the fact that people were made of it) she sat at the table, typing a few words at a time, wondering if he would eventually find the noise annoying.

After a few minutes of total utter silence and stillness, Darcy sighed heavily again, looking up at Loki. "Okay, so if you're sitting here and you're welcome to, you know, um... Is it okay if I put on a little music?"

His eyes narrowed a little. "Music?"

She turned her whole body toward him enthusiastically. "Whoa, you don't have _music _in Asgard? Get out! No wonder Thor's so _weird._"

Perhaps it was he being accustomed to being the outcast, the magician, the strange one. The one Sif had rejected. The one least loved. No, it was not an excuse for what he had done, but it was a truth nonetheless. Thor being referred to as weird, and her incredulous assumption made a viper-like but no less existent smile spring to Loki's thin lips.

"Though I concur with your assessment of my brother... Yes, we have music in Asgard! Sound and instruments can be as simple as the voice, daft wench."

His arms folded, his old speak, his pirate-like retort made Darcy burst out laughing.

"Eh, ehehe, ahaha," she giggled even more as his eyebrows shot up to his high forehead. "Stop, stop," she shook, clutching her sides. His disbelieving face made her nearly stop breathing. "Okay, no, ehehaha, no, no... heh... Okay, I'm done, no, I'm done." His mouth was slightly parted, eyes widened.

"Sorry, um, no, nevermind. So okay, I bet you like, have some chick in a Renaissance leotard playing the harp while she feeds you grapes? Something like that? Like I mean I'm sure you've never heard of Radiohead."

Loki's dark brows pinched together, and a genuine grin broke across his face. "It is... like hearing an unknown language. I tell you not to speak and yet you rabble on about irrelevant things. Fascinating, truly. Perhaps Midgard has some interest for me, after all." Lifting his chin in a princely way, Loki folded his arms, sizing her up, and she blushed again.

Darcy should have been offended, but instead she smiled even more widely, rubbing her eye. "Its just, I thought some music would help me thing or like, take your mind off things, or just let you think your thoughts in a straight line without other stuff getting in the way. You know?"

He rubbed his chin with a long, slender, pale hand. "You speak of such complex mental gymnastics in a strange way, woman. I do understand, but I find lyrical verse to be distracting. Mournful melodies played on instruments do much to drag the soul down rather than uplift it. The sterile silence will be fine, but I suppose I should thank you for your consideration."

She raised her eyebrows, chuckling. "Oh, well, I suppose thank you for not killing... me." She realised it was the wrong thing to say before it slipped out, but his face darkened. Darcy's grin slipped off. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it. I'm sorry. I was just thinking. Um, well, you know, actually, when the thoughts in my head are to much, or like, some idiot accidentally says something stupid that she didn't mean..." His face relaxed. "There's always something that fills my head so much that I can't think of anything else."

He let his anger go for once. "Very well, I am intrigued. May I hear this supposed mental salve? This musical distraction?"

She smiled, opening up her browser and finding YouTube. "You sure can."

Loki only knew rudimentary Earth languages, but he slipped closer to her, reading over her shoulder. "The Andy Griffith Show theme?"

Darcy grinned knowingly. "Yup."

Five minutes later, they sat in silence, Darcy with her hand covering her mouth to stop herself from bursting into laughter. "Okay," she giggled. "Lets try... Um, what's funnier, Thor being hit by Jane in the truck or Thor getting a needle in the ass?"

Momentarily distracted by her colloquialism, he bit his lower lip, frowning. "Well, I would have to say, DAMN THAT AGGRESSIVE WHISTLING TUNE. Blast, I cannot think!"

She laughed, leaning toward him, and her head was close to his shoulder when her eyes met his. The grin faded into a more serious look neither of them could discern. His voice was softer, and his snake like smile seemed okay, for now.

"It is all right," his eyes moved over the shape of her pale face, her eyes, her full lips. "It is, enjoyable." Leaning in, her heart tripled in speed like the week before when she had come within an inch of touching an electric fence. She should not be attracted to someone capable of such evil, she could not claim misunderstanding or ignorance in his defence, and yet she lent in, her half closed eyes seeing his shapely, thin lips.

Two seconds after her warm lips touched his, he pulled his face away, one eye twitching, a noise coming from his throat like a cat in heat.

She giggled. "Doo doo doo, DOO, doo doo doo, DOO, doo doo doo doo doo DOO doo doo,"

"ARRRRRGH!"


End file.
